Lawn edger



Jan. 9, 1951 H. WITTE LAWN EDGER 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR. Min. 5 3 Army:

Arthur H. Willa BY z.

b'lled June 25, 1948 A. H. WITTE LAWN EDGER Jan. 9, 1951 Filed June 23, 1948 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Arthur H. Wit/e INVENTOR.

Patented Jan. 9, 1951 UNITED PAT NT 9 F F ICE;

$537,727; LAWN EDGER- Arthur-'H..Witte;.El Dorado Springs, Mo. I ApplicationJune 23, 1948, Serial-N0; 34,630,

1'. Claim. I

My invention relates to improvements in lawn edgers for trimming grass at the edges ofside' walks, and the like.

. The primary object of theinvention is to provide an easily handled, rotary edging device equipped for pushing alongon-e edge of a walk to cut grass along said edgeandwhich is especiallydesigned to cut with a rotary shearing action so as to trim' along theedge of the walk easilyandevenly;

Another object istoprovide a device of the character" and for the purposes stated which is adapted tostraighten up-thegrass for cutting and for'propellingback andforth along the walk while trimming continuously.

Stillanother object is' -to-provide a lawn edger of-simpl-econstruction-and few parts adapted the same for economical manufacture and low retail cost, and which requires-a minimum of servicing and Will-.HQ'IT; get outof. order-unclear prolonged use.

Other andsubordinateobjects, within the purview of my invention, together with the precise nature'ofmy improvements will be readily-under stood I when the-suceeding description and claims are read with reference to-tlie-drawingsaccompan-ying' and forming partof this specification.

In said drawings:

Figure l is a view in perspective of my improved lawn edger, in a preferred embodiment thereof, viewed from the outboard side of the same;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary view in perspective viewed from the inboard side of the edger, and drawn to a larger scale;

Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 2 with the edger viewed from the outboard side thereof;

Figure 4 is a view in vertical section taken on the line 44 in Figure 3;

Figure 5 is a view in horizontal section taken on the line 5-5 of Figure 2;

Figure 6 is a fragmentary view in vertical section taken on the line 66 of Figure 5.

Referring to the drawings by numerals, the lawn edger of my invention comprises a driving ground wheel I for rolling along the edge of a walk, not shown, with a flat resilient tire 2 and a hub 3 operatively connected by a spring pressed, side, ratchet bar 4 slidable in the hub 3 to side ratchet teeth 5 on a hub B of a larger cutter wheel driving belt pulley welded to said hub 6, as at 8. The ratchet bar 4 and the ratchet teeth 5 are arranged so that under forward travel of the ground Wheel I the pulley l is driven, whereas, under backward travel of said wheel I said tively mounted, as presently described, in a fork 9' on the lower end ofan elongated pusher handle Ill provided with oppositely turned, lateral"lian: dle bars I I having suitable hand grips IZthereon: The handle Ill may be inexpensively, formedof a, pair of side by side pipes suitably connected together and bent to form the handle bars II, the thus formed handle I 0 being welded; ,asat I3, to the fork 9'. Themounting for the ground wheel I, and the pulley 7, comprises a pair of "yoke bars I4 extending fitQmthe'fOrkQ'fOrWardIy of the ground wheel I and pulley 1 upon the. outboard and inboard sides of" said" wheel and; pulley, respectively, and between, which" saidv wheel I and pulley l" are rotatable on a bushing I 5. surroundin fa spindle bolt I6which extends at; its ends through. longitudinalrear end 1sl0ts IT inthe yoke bars I 4', and'through a pair of inverted U-shaped' clips I Sstraddlin the. yoke bars I4. A nut I9 on the spindle bolti I6" clamps the clips It to the ends of the bushing I5 clear of the hubs Band 6; The slots IIprovidefbrlongitudinal adjustment. of the'yo'ke bars I35forwardly and rearwardly of the ground wheel I and" pulley'l'j for a purpose presently seen. The fork 9 is pivoted by bolts 2Q in the clips I8 above the yoke bars E4 to be swung forwardly and rearwardly relative to said yoke bars I 4, and is provided with a pair of rear edge lugs, one of which is shown at 2I, for bearing downwardly on said bars I4 to limit rearward swinging of the yoke 9 and the handle I!) relative to said bars I4, for a purpose presently'apparentf A toothed cutter wheel 22 the teeth 23 of which are provided with tangential cutting edges 24 is rotatably mounted between the front ends of the yoke bars I 4 to rotate about a horizonta1 axis, by the following means. A spindle bolt 25 connects the front ends of said bars I4 with a pair of bushings 25 thereon arranged end to end and spacing the front ends of said bars I4 apart. The

cutter wheel 22 is secured by screws 26 to one side of a pulley 27 smaller than the pulley I and which is rotatable on one of bushings 25 in the plane of the pulley I with the cutter wheel 23' offset on the inboard side of said pulley 21. A belt 28 operatively connects the pulley I to the pulley 21. The cutter wheel 22 coacts with a cutter and pickup member now to be described.

The cutter and pickup member comprises an elongated ground engaging runner shoe 29 at the 'the same to ride over uneven surfaces.

bottom and on the inboard side of the cutter wheel 22. The runner shoe 29 is bolted, as at 30, to a depending front extension arm M on the yoke bar M on the inboard side of the pulley 21. The runner shoe 29 is provided with an upwardly and rearwardly inclined, top, cutting edge 32 against which the cutting edges 24 of the teeth 23 revolve downwardly to out with a shearing action. The runner shoe 29 is formed, forwardly of the edge 32, with a pickup toe 33 for riding,

over the ground under grass tostraighten up the same for cutting. A lower edge, side flange 34 on the runner shoe 29 is adapted to engage the edge of a walk, not shown, to space the cutter wheel 22 therefrom and thereby prevent said wheel from being damaged by the walk.

A coil spring 35 on one bushing 25 is interposed between the pulley 21 and a flange 36 on the other bushing 25 and yieldingly urges the cutter wheel 22 laterally against the cutting edge 32 .of the runner shoe 29.

As will now be seen, with the ground wheel I pushed along the edge of a walk, and the runner shoe 29 riding on the ground alongside said edge, the cutter wheel 22 will be guided by said shoe to cut close to said edge, the cutter wheel 22 being rotated clockwise, as indicated by the arrow in Figure =3, under forward travel of the ground wheel l to cut in cooperation with the cutting edge 32 of the runner shoe 29, in the manner already described. As the runner shoe 29 travels over the ground, the toe 33 thereof picks up and straightens up the grass at the edge of the walk so that the same will be interposed between the cutting edge 32 and the edges 24 of the teeth 23. Pushing on the handle 19 tends to rock the yoke bars 14 downwardly about the axis of the spindle bolt [6, through the clips iii, to maintain the runner shoe 29 on the ground while permitting By swinging of the handle in downwardly and rearwardly to engage the lugs 21 with the yoke bar's l4 pressure will be exerted downwardly against said bars in the rear of the spindle bolt is to swing said bars Hl upwardly in front of the ground wheel I whereby the cutter wheel 22 and runner shoe 29 may be raised out of effective position when desired. By pushing the ground wheel 1 forwardly to cause operation of the cut- 4 ter wheel 22 with sufficient momentum, the ground wheel 1 may be pulled backwardly while the cutter wheel 22 is operated under momentum, so that the edger may be operated forwardly and baokwardly along a walk with short strokes rendering handling of the same easy.

The foregoing will, it is believed, sufiice to impart a clear understanding of my invention, without further explanation.

Manifestly, the invention, as described, is susceptible of modification, without departing from the inventive concept, and right is herein reserved to such modifications as fall within the scope of the appended claim.

Having described the invention, claimed as new is:

, In a lawn edger, a ground wheel for propelling forwardly along one edge of a walk, a spindle on which said wheel is rotatably mounted, a pair of yoke bars on said spindle extending forwardly of what is said wheel upon opposite sides thereof, a toothed cutter wheel rotatable between said bars about-a horizontal axis for rotation alongside said edge of the walk in spaced relation thereto, means on one bar extending below said cutter wheel and with which the teeth of the cutter wheel coact with a shearing action, a drive between the ground and cutter wheel, and a handle for pro-- pelling the ground wheel mounted on said bars, said means comprising a ground engaging runner shoe with a cutting edge past which the teeth of the cutting wheel revolve, and spring means urging said cutter wheel laterally against saidv cutting edge, said shoe having a side flange for. engaging the edge of the walk to space the cut! ting wheel from said edge.

ARTHUR H. WI'IIE.-

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record'in the file of this patent.

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 363327 Calmeyn Aug. 30, 1887 1,238,595 Sundholm Aug. 28, 191}? 1,912,893 Engel June 6, 1933' 

